Thank You! I’m Grateful! I Love You! I care about your well-being!

It's a virtue to honestly and sincerely express our feelings of love and gratitude to those we care about and to those with whom we interact on a daily basis. It’s loving to let others know that you do appreciate their kindness, their friendship and love, their gifts, their talents and their humanity. If you like what you see, hear or read about your friends and loved ones, tell them. Even seemingly little things matters. For example, ‘I love your hair!’ ‘Your pictures are cute!’ ‘That's a lovely thought!’ ‘You look beautiful or handsome!’ ‘Congratulations on your new achievement!’ Never assume they know that already; tell them.

God already knows what’s on our minds and hearts even before we speak, but He says in His word that we should open our mouth and tell Him in prayers. In the same vein, what ever goodwill you have for your friends and loved ones, please tell them. Never assume they know. Do it now while you can because no one knows tomorrow.

Think of those little kids who died in last Friday’s deadly shooting in the US. The morning before she left for school, 6-year-old Emilie Parker, one of the victims, told her father in Portuguese (the new language she was learning from her father) that she loves him. Jessica Rekos, 6 years of age, another victim, wrote on her journal some time before that fateful day, ‘I love you so much momma, love Jessica.’ Just think about that: What if they had waited? What if they felt their parents already knew they loved them? What if? What if? Let it not be, ‘Had I known…!’ More importantly, they learnt how to say these things from their parents. They heard it all the time. (I sourced the victims’ accounts from ABCNews.com)

It feels good to be modestly appreciated. Every human being, young and old, wants and needs sincere and heartwarming appraisal, done without flattery. Even a baby in the womb can sense appreciation. Wikipedia.org states: ‘Numerous studies have found evidence indicating a fetus's ability to respond to auditory stimuli. Research at Zhejiang University, China indicates that fetuses at term cannot only hear, but also distinguish their mother's voice from others.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonatal_perception) So, you can talk and sing to your unborn child. Tell them how much you love them right from the womb and also from the moment they come into this world. How do we welcome a loving guest to our home? Is it not with loving expressions and gratitude?The babies can’t respond in kind but they hear us! A well trained animal pet like a dog knows when he’s been appreciated. They can feel the love. How much more a human being!

Let me use this opportunity to say this: Thank you, my friends! In case I haven't said it before, hear it now: Thanks for been a friend and I love you and you and you. I’m grateful for the privilege of being your friend. I’m grateful for everything you've done for me and with me. Words would fail me to recount them all. Your names, too numerous to mention; your kind acts, too many to enumerate. I’m not the perfect friend, but you stuck with me any way. I may have let you down on countless occasions but you kept the faith in our friendship.Thank you for the things for which i'm grateful and thank you for the things for which i'm thoughtful! May God keep us and protect us. May we live long in loving friendships and may we cherish and use every single opportunity to say: Thank you. I love you. Yes, you dear friends of mine!!!

- Dr. Eugene Akponojivi Ojirigho.